1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image-transfer medium suitable for use in forming an image on a transfer-printing medium by transfer printing, a process for producing a transferred image using this image-transfer medium, and a cloth with transferred image formed thereon, and more particularly to an image-transfer medium for ink-jet printing, in which an ink-jet printing system is used upon forming an image on a transfer layer making up the image-transfer medium, a process for producing a transferred image by using such an image-transfer medium to transfer-print an image on a transfer-printing medium, thereby forming the transferred image, and a cloth with a transferred image formed thereon.
2. Related Background Art
As ink-jet printing systems, there are known various ink ejection systems, for example, an electrostatic attraction system, a system in which a piezoelectric element is used to give an ink mechanical vibration or change, or a system in which an ink is heated to form bubbles in the ink, thereby using the pressure thus produced. Printing is conducted by generating and ejecting minute droplets of an ink by one of these ink ejection systems and applying parts or all of the droplets to a recording medium. Such an ink-jet printing system attracts attention as a simple system which scarcely produces noise and can conduct high-speed printing and color printing. In recent years, ink-jet printers making good use of such a system, by which color printing can be simply conducted, have been widely spread.
In recent years, the ink-jet printers, by which color printing can be simply conducted as described above, have been spread, and there has thus been an increasing demand for conducting color printing on various recording media using these printers. In order to meet such a demand, particular attention is paid to printing techniques making good use of an image-transfer medium (image-transfer paper) in that printing can be conducted irrespective of the form of recording media (transfer-printing media), namely, an image formation can be performed on any medium which does not permit direct printing by a printer.
Some image-transfer media making good use of an ink-jet printing system to form an image thereon have been proposed to date. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-207426 has proposed an ink-jet printing sheet in which an ink-receiving layer is composed of a thermoplastic resin, a crystalline plasticizer and a tackifier, thereby permitting sticking an transferred image to a transfer-printing medium by heating alone. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-207450 has proposed an image-transfer medium in the form of a sheet capable of permitting ink-jet printing and heat transfer printing, comprising a base material layer and a heat transfer layer which is composed of a particulate thermoplastic resin, inorganic porous fine particles and a binder. U.S. Pat. No. 5,501,902 has proposed an image-transfer medium for ink-jet comprising a transfer layer of a structure that a cationic resin, an ink-viscosity adjuster and the like are added in addition to the above-described components.
These image-transfer media according to the prior art have sufficient performance as to formation of an image thereon by ink-jet printing and transfer printing of the image therefrom to transfer-printing media. However, the performance as to fastness properties of the transferred images after the transfer to the transfer-printing media has not been said to be sufficient. More specifically, when washing an image-transferred article, there has been a problem that the optical density of the image is deteriorated due to such a cause that dyes which form the image and materials of the transfer layer which carry the image are run out into water, or that the surface of the cloth having the transferred image is fuzzed.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an image-transfer medium by which an image formed thereon by making good use of an ink-jet printing method can be transferred to a transfer-printing medium such as a cloth to form a good transferred image, and particularly to provide an excellent image-transfer medium for ink-jet printing, which has a high ink absorbency, permits the formation of an image high in optical density and clearness, and can form a good transferred image having high fastness to washing when the image is transferred to a transfer-printing medium such as a cloth, a production process of a transferred image having such properties as described above, and a cloth with a transferred image formed thereon.
The above object can be achieved by the present invention described below.
According to the present invention, there is thus provided an image-transfer medium for ink-jet printing, comprising a base material, and a releasing layer and a transfer layer, both, provided on the base material, wherein the transfer layer comprises fine particles of a thermoplastic resin, a thermoplastic resin binder, inorganic fine particles and a coupling agent.
According to the present invention, there is also provided a process for producing a transferred image, comprising the steps of forming an image on the transfer layer of the image-transfer medium for ink-jet printing described above in accordance with an ink-jet printing system; and transfering the transfer layer to the transfer-printing medium by overlapping the image-transfer medium, on which the image has been formed, on a transfer-printing medium each other.
According to the present invention, there is further provided a cloth with a transferred image formed thereon by the production process described above.